Australian Football

Saints edge home after the bell

1928 VFL Round 17: St Kilda vs. Melbourne

Since winning the 1926 premiership Melbourne had remained a powerful football force, in particular boasting one of the strongest forward lines in the VFL. Somewhat unfortunate to miss the finals in 1927 - a late season loss at Geelong saw them consigned to 5th position, one win adrift of Carlton but with a much healthier percentage - the Fuchsias had, the following year, begun to produce football comparable with that of their flag-winning year. Indeed, they would end the home and away rounds with the same win-loss record as in 1926, and although they would not go on to lift another premiership, or even qualify for the grand final, they would arguably come as close as any other side during the four years between 1927 and 1930 to dislodging the indefatigable Collingwood steamroller.¹

St Kilda, by contrast, had not so much as contested the finals since 1918, but in 1928 they were very much a side on the up, a fact which their performance in this particular match would go a long way to emphasising. In 1929 the seasiders would finally qualify for the major round, but despite a gutsy first semi final display against Carlton would end up losing by eight points.

Melbourne and St Kilda had met once previously in 1928. In round 6, at the MCG, the Fuchsias had won a closely contested match by two straight kicks, after scores had been deadlocked at the main break. Going into this round 17 clash the seasiders had not beaten Melbourne since the opening round of the 1924 season, which constituted a losing stretch of seven consecutive matches.

The match was watched by a crowd of roughly 17,000, the third highest of the afternoon, on a perfect day for football. The playing surface was in superb condition given the late stage of the season, and the football produced by both teams was “fast, open and scientific, with spectacular air work”.

St Kilda went into the game in sixth position on the ladder, with a 9-7 record; Melbourne, on 13 wins and three defeats, were second, one win behind Collingwood.

1st Quarter

The opening term was played at breakneck pace, with the seasiders showing considerable improvement on their performance against Collingwood the previous week, when they had lost by 56 points, in the ascendancy. After two early chances went begging, Warr found space to dash in on goal unencumbered and score full points, and shortly afterwards Bence added a second major from a free kick.

For Melbourne, 1926 Brownlow Medallist Ivor Warne-Smith (pictured left, who within a few weeks was to secure his second Medal) was particularly conspicuous early on, as was rover Jimmy Davidson (below right). With these two initiating a series of telling drives it was not long before the Fuchsias acquired their first goal, courtesy of a booming kick from Bob Johnson. However, from the ensuing centre bounce St Kilda surged into attack and Bert Smedley, after being freed, restored their two-goal advantage.

Bob Corbett for Melbourne made an exhilarating run from the centre to within easy range of goal but his good work was ruined when he kicked a grubber. He received a double punishment shortly afterwards when Danny Warr added a fourth goal for the seaside's.

Quarter Time: St Kilda 6.2 (38); Melbourne 3.4 (22)

2nd Quarter

Early in the second quarter Cyril Gambetta (twice), Tasman Roberts and Arthur Ludlow received enthusiastic cheers from the home supporters after soaring high to take spectacular grabs. Excellent high marking, indeed, was a noteworthy feature of this game, with both sides contributing to the spectacle in more or less equal measure.

Melbourne found themselves under intense pressure during the first ten minutes of the term, and although they succeeded in repelling numerous attacks, their defences were breached twice, first by Percy Outram (left), and then by Ludlow. As the quarter wore on, Melbourne began to reclaim the initiative, and minor scores to Johnson and Warne-Smith were followed by what proved to be their only goal of the term, kicked by 'Tom' McConville. The goal was attributable to a woeful error by Gambetta (pictured at top of article) who, under a fair amount of pressure in trying to relieve his lines, mis-timed his kick completely and sent the ball straight to McConville who, alone and unmarked, had no difficulty in converting from almost point blank range.

Half Time: St Kilda 8.5 (53); Melbourne 4.8 (32)

3rd Quarter

The pace and fluency of the game increased during a third term that saw Johnson, through a series of spectacular overhead marks coupled with tremendous kicking, establish himself as the game’s most eye-catching performer. Neither side was able to maintain the ascendancy for long as the ball travelled repeatedly from one end of the ground to another, typically at great speed. The Fuchsias outscored St Kilda by a single point in this quarter, but still trailed by 20 points at the final change.

Three Quarter Time: St Kilda 10.8 (68); Melbourne 6.12 (48)

4th Quarter

The first twenty minutes of the final term saw Melbourne achieving the greatest concerted spell of dominance managed by either team in the match. Shortly after the resumption, goals to McConville and Herbie White reduced the arrears to just eight points, and the Melbourne supporters, for the first time in the afternoon, began to find their voices. Encouraged by their roaring fans the Fuchsias surged forward again, and Johnson, after taking a towering mark in a pack, kicked truly to make the margin less than a goal. St Kilda’s players, for the only time in the match, seemed all at sea, as blue and red jumpers repeatedly poured forth in numbers, making further goals to Melbourne seem inevitable. Sure enough, Gordon Ogden, joining in on one forward foray from his wing, kicked a fine running goal to put his side in front for the first time in the match, with only seven or eight minutes remaining. Moments later, a shot from Johnson hit the post, but St Kilda failed to hold onto the ball after the kick-out and Ogden raced in to register his second goal in as many minutes, putting Melbourne two clear goals to the good, and seemingly safe.

Suddenly, however, with less than five minutes left in the match, St Kilda contrived to wake up and start playing. A near miss by Ludlow was quickly followed by a goal to the same player, and, with the barracking from the crowd becoming increasingly impassioned, the seasiders pushed forward again. Melbourne responded by throwing virtually everybody into the backlines, and play became predictably uncoordinated and messy. St Kilda still seemed to have the edge, however, and, as the game entered its final seconds, Horrie Mason (left), tapping the ball in front of him as he dodged and weaved through heavy traffic, finally snatched it up and found Smedley with a crisp, pin-point pass. Amazingly, given the number of bodies in St Kilda’s attacking zone, Smedley found he had time to turn and begin running in towards an open goal.

At that point the bell rang out, inviting the umpire to bring the match to a conclusion, but with the crowd producing a frightful din, he failed to hear it. Smedley therefore was allowed to run into goal and pump the ball through for full points, and only then did the umpire make out the sound of the bell, and blow for time. St Kilda, it appeared, had squeezed home by a point – but in fact the matter was far from finished. The scoreboard at the end of the match read St Kilda 12.10 (82); Melbourne 11.15 (81).

Match Summary

BEST
St Kilda: Roberts, Cubbins, Gambetta, Matthews, Hepburn
Melbourne: Johnson, Wittman, Warne-Smith, Chadwick, Davidson

GOALS
St Kilda: Ludlow, Ware 3; Outram, Smedley 2; Bence, Mason
Melbourne: Johnson 4; McConville, Ogden 2; Abernethy, White, Wittman

ATTENDANCE: 17,000 approximately at the Junction Oval

For full match details click here.

Postscript

Hardly surprisingly, Melbourne saw fit to protest to the VFL about the highly controversial manner in which the match had ended. Writing in ‘The Argus’ on the Monday after the game, 'Old Boy' opined that, whatever the outcome in terms of the result of the match, if this protest led to improved bells at all league grounds, it would, in a sense, be vindicated. At this particular time, 'Old Boy' claimed, only Footscray possessed a bell that was up to standard, in the sense that it could clearly be heard no matter how loud the crowd noise.

After the VFL had convened to consider Melbourne's protest on the evening of Tuesday 21 August it announced itself satisfied with umpire Devine's contention that he had not heard the bell until after he had given the "all clear" for Smedley's shot. Consequently, according to the letter of the law, the match had not concluded until that point, and the St Kilda Football Club was thus the rightful winner.

This was not the first time that the VFL had been asked to adjudicate concerning a controversy in a match between these two teams. After the opening round of the 1900 season, in which St Kilda 10.8 (68) drew with Melbourne 9.14 (68), St Kilda had successfully claimed that one of Melbourne's behinds, kicked during the third quarter, ought not to have been allowed as the bell had clearly begun ringing several seconds before the ball was kicked. Sportingly, the Melbourne delegate to the league endorsed his St Kilda counterpart's version of events, and the VFL therefore ruled that a behind should be removed from the Fuchsias' score. The upshot of this was that St Kilda won its first ever VFL match after commencing its league career with 48 consecutive losses.